Mayor wants to gather countries visited by Magellan

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Michael Rama wants to gather in Cebu the countries that were part of the circumnavigation trail of Ferdinand Magellan.

“We will be hosting (an event) which I will be bringing to the City Council. The gathering of all the cities that Magellan had navigated,” he said yesterday.

The mayor wants to hold the event in January in time for the annual Sinulog Festival.

It can be remembered that it was the Spaniards who brought Christianity to the Philippines beginning in Cebu.

Rama said he is eyeing to invite Chile, Guam, Spain and Macau to the planned gathering.

Just last week, Rama, together with Philippine Ambassador to Portugal, Philippe Lhuillier, flew to Portugal to sign a sister-city agreement with Sabrosa. Portugal is the birthplace of Magellan.

The sister-city agreement with Sabrosa was approved by the City Council on February 28 this year to establish a relationship that would facilitate exchanges in culture, trade and education.

In December last year, Sabrosa Mayor José Manuel de Carvalho Marques proposed to formalize the sisterhood agreement with Cebu City.

“With the idea that we will strengthen this friendship and mutual understanding between the people of Sabrosa and Cebu, developing exchanges between the two cities, particularly in the areas of trade, tourism and education, I would like to propose you, as Mayor of Cebu, a twinning protocol between Sabrosa and Cebu City,” reads the letter Marques sent to Rama last year.

Cebu has established sisterhood relationships with Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands; Kaohsiung City, Taiwan; Yeosu City, South Korea; Xiamen, China; Honolulu City, United States of America; Chula Vista, California, USA; Seattle City, Washington, USA; Paramata, Australia; Kitchener, Canada; Salinas City, California; Kortrijk, Belgium; Vladivostok, Russia; Barcelona, Spain; Brisbane, Australia and Rio de Janiero, Brazil. — (FREEMAN)